1. Field of the Invention
The present invention mainly relates to facsimile apparatuses equipped with a hand scanner which is detachable from the main unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
With reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a conventional facsimile apparatus is explained below.
FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing a conventional facsimile apparatus. In FIG. 1, receiver holding section 12 is provided at the left (from the viewer""s viewpoint) of the principal plane of facsimile apparatus main unit 11 and receiver 13 is placed on receiver holding section 12. Operation panel 14 is provided at the center of facsimile apparatus main unit 11. Facsimile transmission operation buttons, etc. are formed on this operation panel 14.
In the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit hand scanner 16 to scan documents. In this case, the scanning side which is not shown in the figure of hand scanner 16 faces downward, that is, toward the interior of the main unit.
Furthermore, on the back of the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit 11 is document inlet 17 into which documents to be sent are inserted and recording paper outlet 18 that discharges recording paper which has recorded received data. On the lower part of the front of the main unit is document outlet 19 that discharges scanned documents. Furthermore, inside facsimile apparatus main unit 11 is rolled recording paper which is not shown in the figure.
Then, the document transmission operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus configured as shown above is explained below.
First, the case where documents are transmitted with hand scanner 16 set in scanner housing section 15 is explained.
Since the scanning side of hand scanner 16 faces downward, a document is inserted into document inlet 17 with its printed side facing upward. Then, pressing an appropriate operation button on operation panel 14 causes the document feeding roller which is not shown in the figure to start running and the document is fed into the interior of facsimile apparatus main unit 11.
When the document reaches the scanning side which is not shown in the figure of hand scanner 16, scanning of the document is started. The scanned image data is stored in memory temporarily and then transmitted to the destination via a public telephone line. The scanned transmitting document is discharged from document outlet 19.
Then, the case where documents are transmitted with hand scanner 16 detached from the main unit is explained. The operator catches hand scanner 16 by hand and removes it from facsimile apparatus main unit 11. Then, the operator places hand scanner 16 on a document to be scanned and checks the scanning position. Pressing the scanning start button which is not shown in the figure will start scanning. The operator slides hand scanner 16 across the document at an appropriate speed. When the scanning is completed, the operator sets hand scanner 16 in scanner housing section 15.
Then, the reception operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus is explained below.
Upon reception of data from the sender, recording operation is started. The paper feeding roller which is not shown in the figure starts running to feed rolled recording paper. This rolled recording paper is attached inside the main unit in order to reduce the size of facsimile apparatus main unit 11. The recording block which is not shown in the figure records the received data on recording paper and the recording paper which has recorded the received data is discharged from recording paper outlet 18.
Then, another conventional facsimile apparatus different from the facsimile apparatus above is explained with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view showing a conventional facsimile apparatus. In FIG. 2, receiver holding section 22 is provided at the left (from the viewer""s viewpoint) of the principal plane of facsimile apparatus main unit 21 and receiver 23 is placed on receiver holding section 22. Operation panel 24 is provided at the center of facsimile apparatus main unit 21. Facsimile transmission operation buttons, etc. are formed on this operation panel 24.
In the lower part of the front of facsimile apparatus main unit 21 is concave scanner holding section 25 which houses hand scanner 26. When hand scanner 26 is set in scanner holding section 25, the scanning side which is not shown in the figure of hand scanner 26 faces downward. This concave scanner holding section 25 also functions as a document outlet to discharge scanned transmitting documents.
Furthermore, on the rear of the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit 21 is detachable cover 27. When this cover 27 is opened, the transmitting document inlet which is not shown in the figure appears. On the back of facsimile apparatus main unit 21 is recording paper outlet 28 that discharges recording paper which has recorded receive data. Furthermore, inside facsimile apparatus main unit 21 is rolled recording paper which is not shown in the figure.
The document transmission/reception operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus configured as shown above is the same as the transmission/reception operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus described above, and thus its explanation is omitted here.
The conventional facsimile apparatus above has a configuration in which rolled recording paper is attached inside the apparatus main unit in order to reduce the size of the apparatus. However, it is difficult to have a configuration that will allow the apparatus to use plain paper. That is, the conventional facsimile apparatuses above have the problem that it is difficult to incorporate a paper feeding cassette that houses plain paper and a hand scanner which is detachable from the main unit simultaneously without increasing the size of the main unit with respect to the mounting position of the hand scanner.
The conventional facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 incorporates hand scanner 16 in the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit 11, which prevents it from setting the paper feeding cassette carrying plain paper in the upper part of the main unit. In addition, setting the paper feeding cassette inside facsimile apparatus main unit 11 will increase the size of the apparatus.
On the other hand, the conventional facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 2 houses hand scanner 26 in concave scanner housing section 25 in the lower part of the front of facsimile apparatus main unit 21, which makes it easy to set the paper feeding cassette carrying plain paper in the upper part of the rear of facsimile apparatus main unit 21. However, since hand scanner 26 is attached with its scanning side facing downward, when documents are transmitted with hand scanner 26 attached, documents will have to pass through a crooked path. This makes it difficult to send documents smoothly, causing the problem of increasing the probability of document clogging or paper jam.
The present invention is intended to solve such a problem and it is an objective of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus with a detachable hand scanner which will allow the use of plain paper without increasing the size of the apparatus.
A first objective of the present invention is to allow the use of plain paper without increasing the size of a facsimile apparatus with a hand scanner.
The present invention achieves the objective above by setting the hand scanner in the front of the facsimile apparatus main unit with its scanning side facing right upward.